Untamed

Both leads were perfectly cast in the silly romance Untamed. Joan Crawford played a wild gypsy, who, after being exposed to civilization for the first time, still acts like a savage beast. Robert Montgomery plays a refined society playboy who falls for Joan's beauty and tries to kindly educate her with better manners. She tries to scare off female competition, and Bob tells her she just can't go around threatening to punch people in the nose. "Why not?" she asks.

In her early, very pretty days, Joan eats up her scenes with energy and hilarious melodrama. The film itself is very dated, so I can't imagine anyone wanting to watch it unless they're a fan of the cast. Nowadays, it's looked at as misogynistic to try and tame a woman's wild impulses and get her to act like a "lady". But in 1929, it was very funny to watch the glamorous Joan Crawford embarrass herself in polite society. Give this movie a watch if you like her early days, and you'll be rewarded with a couple of dance numbers, as well as a song from Robert Montgomery!

One of the first MGM soundies full of music, dance, drama and Joan Crawford! The early Crawford personality emerges as a feisty, likable, love-of-life character and she is wonderful! She is so different from her later 50's and 60's roles. If you have not viewed any of Crawford's silent movies or the early soundies, you should consider it. You can see the emergence of her acting abilities and even peg some of her acting characteristics that she carried with her throughout her entire 50 year career. Ernest Torrence is an engaging father figure, a marvelous character actor. Robert Montgomery (who appeared with JC six times) is the love interest torn between culture and animal. Lloyd Ingraham appears as the Crawford character's father early on. A must-see for film lovers interested in viewing early sound films.

''Untamed'' surprised & delighted me, in the way, that I've never seen Joan play such a sassy, upbeat role before...... It's totally different from all her other roles, and I don't think, she played another similar part after...... Joan plays her part ''Bingo'', so charmingly & adorably...... (in a way, naive & innocent) It's really not something, Joan fans are used to watching...... This proves again, Joan's versatility, and her capability to do comedy...... Even though, certain parts in ''Untamed'' were silly & offbeat...... I really didn't seem to care, or really noticed it...... Because, Joan & Robert Montgomery had such marvelous chemistry together..... (It's always a refreshing & fun experience watching them every time) They had so much give and take, in their scenes together....... ''Untamed'' is obviously dated, but in a classy, old fashioned way...... What ''Untamed'' has, that other same genre movie lacks today is, ''classy romance''....... I recommend Joan & Robert Montgomery fans to check out this movie...... Really wished Joan & Robert could've made movies together...... They're simply superb, each time they team together......

But not too bad, with some comedic moments, my favorite unintentional one being when Montgomery knocks back a shot and the liquid dribbles down the shoulder of his tuxedo!! Cut! Wait, just leave it in, who will notice. This is an early talkie, anyhow. Next scene! Joan is lovably fresh in her first talkie as the improbably nick-named Bingo, falling head over heels in love with poor but noble Andy McAllister. When she gets the monkey off her back (literally; she's grown up in the jungle), she moves to the city with her "uncles" (really her father's friends who are charged with her care) and enters society, with a little help from the MGM make-up, hair, and deportment departments. Can Bingo and Andy make a go of it? Will Andy go back to his girlfriend? Will Bingo realize one of her "uncles" likes her in that special way? As others have said, it's a wildly improbable tale but it is fun to watch such an early talkie, when everything was so awkward and painful, like adolescence. Montgomery in the fight scenes was indeed pale and slender; in fact, a muscular double had to be used for him during the strip-search scene in "The Big House." Oh, well. Men were littler then. Some of us like the suave, intellectual type.

Not a bad way to spend 90 minutes. Interesting to note the use of card titles in this movie, and also Joan's rather stilted emoting, both holdovers from the silent days which really were just days behind at that point. Such a curiosity in this day and age...

From her first scenes looking bronzed as a Tahitian as she sings and dances on the beach at night, to the porcelain aristocratic beauty she presents later in the film, Joan Crawford shines in a role that she seems born to play. The film combines melodrama and comedy to bizarre contrast, and features a number of choice supporting performances (and accents!) Young and handsome Robert Montgomery plays the object of Crawford's affection, and such is the level of her love that when she is told that "the woods are full of men like him", she replies, "take me to the woods." This film also might show her earliest use of a Crawford trademark prop, the revolver.